Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
I hope you are doing well. This will be a brief message this week.
We have several different cycles of grading and changing classes here at RJ Grey. At the end of October, we moved from Quarter 1 to Quarter 2 for our PE and Health classes and many of our Grey Block electives. Hopefully, your children have talked positively about their new classes. In late January, we'll wrap up our Exploratory classes, which are classes like Art, Digital Literacy, and Engineering, for example. We are flexible in scheduling our off-team classes to make sure that students are exposed to a wide variety of options in their classes and try to keep the classes long enough to lead to significant learning. Coming up before Thanksgiving (Nov 26), we will end Trimester 1, which is for our on-team classes. These on-team classes (think Math, English, etc.) will lead to students earning a letter grade on a report card, issued in December.
Over the past few weeks in Advisory, we have been talking about gratitude. Last week, we watched a brief video that highlighted the importance of gratitude. We've challenged students to keep track of things they are grateful for. Things like family, friends, and pets at home were common among our student responses. I continue to be grateful for a very hard-working set of teachers, a really kind set of students, and a supportive set of families. Thank you for your continued support of our work at RJ Grey.
Take care and have a good weekend,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
Judging by the volume of cars in our parking lots on Tuesday, I'm sure many of you came to RJ Grey to vote this week. While you were voting, our staff was in our school working collaboratively and learning together. The professional learning day is a great opportunity for us to work together on our collective teaching practices. Teachers worked with their departments on developing common assessments, analyzing data about student learning, continuing to develop our workshop groups, and more. This professional day was one well spent.
Today and yesterday, our 8th graders participated in team assemblies where they met the principal and other staff members from Acton-Boxborough Regional High School. The high school presentation highlighted course offerings, extracurricular activities, and the general school experience at AB. While the start of ninth grade is still far off, we use the fall to expose students to their options for high school. We will talk more about high school courses and registration in the spring, but in the meantime, check in with your 8th grader to see what they learned about ABRHS this week.
This week, I have reminded students about our expectations for after school at RJ Grey. As your child makes plans for their afternoons, it is helpful for you to be aware of what we expect, as well. Here is the text of our morning announcement: A reminder to all students about staying in the building after 2:36 each day. Only students who stay for extra help with a teacher, or for a club or activity, are allowed to stay at school after 2:36. Any other student without a school obligation must leave school at dismissal. Any student whose extra help or club has ended will remain in the Library to be picked up. Additionally, students are not allowed to return to school after leaving to be picked up or take the late bus. With limited supervision after school, we need to be mindful of the number of students in the building at that time. Thank you for your help with this.
Over 100 of our students and staff have already given hours of their time to put together our fall musical, Frozen, Jr. Our shows will run December 5 - 8. I hope you'll mark your calendars for that weekend and purchase tickets when we release info about them in the coming weeks. I am regularly amazed by what our students are able to do in our theater productions - I hope you'll spread the word about our upcoming show - it will be a great one!
We have published our winter athletic season tryouts on our school webpage. If your child is interested in basketball or cheer, please make sure to review the tryout procedures and pay attention to two important things: Sign up on Family ID, and have a recent physical exam on file with our Health Office. Our winter sports tend to bring out a lot of interested players and we usually need to make cuts in order to create appropriately-sized teams. Thank you for helping to set expectations if your child is planning to try out for a team. We are still in the process of finding an interested and qualified coach for our Cheer Team. If you, or someone you know, would be interested in talking about this opportunity, please reach out directly to Jon Duclos, our athletic director, at [email protected].
There is an interesting webinar from Cartwheel Care next Wednesday evening. I invite you to learn more about it and possibly attend:
Title: Can We Talk? How to have conversations with kids & teens about mental health
Date: 11/13/2024
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Zoom webinar
Registration: LINK
Description: Join Cartwheel and The NAN Project for a free live webinar that will cover mental health questions that kids & teens have but are often afraid to ask, and suggestions for how caregivers can safely and appropriately respond when mental health topics come up in their homes.
Happy Veteran's Day to all, especially those who have served our country. I appreciate your service.
Take care and have a good weekend,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
I hope we all collectively remember what a beautiful night this will be for Trick or Treating. If you are spending any time outside with your children, I hope you enjoy it, because not too many years ago, we did this in the rain and the snow! Several years ago, after I was allegedly a bit too rushed on the sidewalks, and not very patient, I was assigned the task of handing out candy at home. I do think my rushing and organizing on the sidewalks of our town was directly related to the amount of time spent making sure the RJ Grey hallways are safe and orderly. Tonight, my vampire, witch, and Descendants character will go through our neighborhood with my wife and neighbors. I'm just as happy to hand out candy at home. I hope everyone has a safe night tonight and a Happy Diwali for those who celebrate this weekend.
As you know, we have no school on Tuesday, November 5th, to allow for voting in our Gym. I hope you all take the chance to vote on Tuesday. Our students will vote in our RJ Grey Mock Election on Monday. They will have the chance to vote for the presidential ticket of their choice and they'll be able to vote on the five ballot questions, as well. Every four years, our Social Studies department organizes this mock election where students enter their precinct (the library), check in by giving their name, and are given a ballot to vote privately. If our tallying goes quickly enough, we'll announce the winners before the end of Monday. We study civics in seventh grade Social Studies, so when we get the chance to make those studies feel a bit more real, we do!
Over the next few days, we are going to be a bit more firm with students about the use of our building after 2:36. We have found that some students have been leaving school, heading to Starbucks or other locations, and coming back inside to wait for the late bus or a ride home. The intention of having our building open after school is to support those students who stay for a club, extra help, or for some other school-related reason. Any student who does not have something to do immediately after school needs to go home after school. In this period between sports seasons, we will work with students (and you) to reset expectations on necessary reasons for staying at school. Socializing, unfortunately, is not one of those reasons. Thank you for your help with this.
We had a very successful season of fall athletics. Our soccer, field hockey, and cross country teams had great seasons! We have published our winter season tryouts on our school webpage. If your child is interested in basketball or cheer, please make sure to review the tryout procedures and pay attention to two important things: Sign up on Family ID, and have a recent physical exam on file with our Health Office. Our winter sports tend to bring out a lot of interested players and we usually need to make cuts in order to create appropriately-sized teams. Thank you for helping to set expectations if your child is planning to try out for a team.
Finally, some of our families will receive a request for information from the RJ Grey school nurse in order to update their child’s school health records. This may include proof of vaccination or a copy of a physical exam signed by a doctor. Please send the requested documentation to the school nurse (Amanda Frank, [email protected]) as soon as possible. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to our Health office.
Take care and have a good weekend,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
It was a real pleasure to see so many of you at last week's Back to School Night. One teacher told me that she felt like a Broadway actor who performed both a matinee and an evening performance! I hope you got a sense of how much our teachers care about our students in the short time you were able to spend in their classrooms. At RJ Grey, we do not have "parent conferences" in the traditional understanding. In order to preserve class time without additional early releases, we rely on team meetings during the day for individual families to connect with a team of teachers in place of traditional parent conferences. If you wish to make an appointment with your child's team, please be in touch with your child's counselor. If you ever need to connect with a specific teacher, please reach out to that teacher directly.
In the past 24 hours, I have received two very thoughtful messages from families about some of our staff members. I thanked each sender, validated their positive feedback, and sent the message to the noted staff members. A few times this year, I will likely remind you that this type of thanks goes way further than any Starbucks or Dunkin' card would. As a staff, we are intentional about sending positive messages about your students when we can. It is so appreciated when families do the same. Your thanks do not have to be elaborate or flowery - a simple thank you to a teacher who gets talked about at the dinner table or on the ride home from a sports practice is always well received. I feel lucky to be able to work at RJ Grey with incredible colleagues who bring their best every day. Thank you for your ongoing support as we work to build a joyful, inclusive community of engaged learners.
Some of our families will receive a request for information from the RJ Grey school nurse in order to update their child’s school health records. This may include proof of vaccination or a copy of a physical exam signed by a doctor. Please send the requested documentation to the school nurse (Amanda Frank, [email protected]) as soon as possible. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to our Health office.
No child in Massachusetts should be denied access to immunizations due to an inability to pay. We have compiled a list of Healthcare providers in our area, many of whom provide access to free or reduced-cost care. You can locate that list here. Thank you in advance for your help and cooperation as we all work together to keep our students healthy and in the classroom.
Take care and have a good weekend,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
I look forward to seeing many of you tonight at Back to School Night. As a reminder, schedules were sent via Parent Square last Friday. If you didn't see that message with an attached student schedule, no worries. We will have printed copies of schedules in the lobby tonight. First period starts at 7 pm and you'll spend 10 minutes in each of your child's classes. There will be plenty of printed maps and adults to direct you to room locations. We hope to see you tonight!
Several times this fall, we have had parents or guardians arrive to dismiss their child after receiving a text message from their child stating they did not feel well. If you ever receive a text message like this, please don't get in the car. Instead, please call the RJ Grey Main Office. We train our students to seek out helpful adults in our building, including going to our Health Office when they're not feeling well. Our nurses will try and offer support and will give you a call if a child needs to be dismissed. Please know that your child should not have their cell phone on them during the day, so if you are getting texts from your child, please (1) do not respond and (2) later, mention that they should be checking in with their adults here at school with any issue. You can always call us and if you need to speak with your child, our Main Office can help facilitate that! Students are always welcome to use the phones in the Main Office to call their families. Thank you for your help with this.
I mentioned last week that Minuteman High School visited our 8th graders. Soon, ABRHS will visit as well. Some of you may be considering a private school for the 8th or 9th grade. If that is the case, please visit this link to learn more about how our Counseling Office helps with private school applications. There are deadlines and expectations for what we share on your child's behalf. Please check out our site or reach out to your child's counselor with specific questions.
As we approach the end of the month, I wanted to remind you or make you aware that we do not dress in Halloween costumes during the school day at RJ Grey. If you hear any excited talk about your child’s costume, please make sure they are referring to wearing it to family or community events, where I hope they have some fun!
Take care and have a good weekend,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
I hope you are doing well. There are several important messages below. I thank you in advance for reading this week's message!
Emergency Response Today
If you have a student on 7 Red or 7 Green, they may talk to you about a situation at our fourth lunch today. A student was choking on part of their lunch and needed the assistance of a teacher and our nurses to dislodge the item. The student is now doing well and receiving follow-up care from medical professionals. Students seated in the Cafe Annex were close to the situation and were moved to the larger cafe during the emergency response. If your child has any thoughts or questions, please check in with them and let us know if they'd like to follow up with a trusted adult at school. Witnessing an emergency situation can certainly trigger some nervousness and unease. Today, like all days, I am proud of how our staff and students responded. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Activity Fee
You likely received a message from the Superintendent's Office last week about the new Activity Fee in the Acton-Boxborough Schools. During the FY25 budget process, the School Committee voted to implement a new Activity Fee of $50 for any student who is a member of any club or student activity for the 2024-2025 school year. By implementing this fee, the District (and RJ Grey) continues to be able to offer the variety of clubs we have historically offered while being able to maintain our contractual obligations to the advisors of these clubs. I point this out in case you skimmed over last week's message.
What does this actually mean for your RJ Grey student? If your child participates in one of our after-school clubs or activities, your family will need to pay the $50 activity fee for your child to continue to participate. Our $50 fee will cover your child's participation in at least one club or activity. As an example, if your child is only interested in joining the Chess Club this year, their $50 fee will cover their participation in that club. If another child chooses to participate in the Chess Club, Board Game Club, and Fit Club, the fee remains $50. In this case, participation in three after-school clubs is covered by one $50 fee.
Since this is the first year of charging this fee, we have waited until October to start publicizing the process for payment, which also gave us time to make plans for how to operationalize this process. You may choose to pay this fee through cash or check, made out to ABRSD. We have begun to use eFunds to collect online payments if that is your preference. Please check out this letter from our Director of Finance for additional information, and for the link to setting up an online payment account.
We have a bunch of clubs already up and running: Art Club, Book Club, Chess Club, Common Ground, Creative Writing, Dungeons & Dragons, Fit Club, Games Club, Green Team Club, Jazz Band, Magic Card Club, Marvel Club, MathCounts, Musical: Frozen, Jr, Ski Club, Student Council, Yearbook. Students who participate in a school sport (Cross Country, soccer, etc.) do not need to pay the activity fee if they only do a sport. Those athletes pay an athletic fee to help defray the cost of their participation. If, however, a soccer player joins a club or two after their season is complete, the student will pay a $50 activity fee.
I hope the above info is clear, but I encourage you to let me know if you have any questions. This additional fee is not an exciting one for us, but it will allow us to continue to offer the enjoyable after-school programming that we're accustomed to. Thank you for your support.
Back to School Night - Thursday, October 17
You are invited to RJ Grey's Back to School Night, next Thursday, October 17. The event starts at 7 pm and ends at 8:40. If you are able to come, I encourage you to plan ahead and time your commute well, as our nearby parking lots fill up quickly. You are free to park in any of the spots at RJ Grey, the Parker-Damon Building, and the High School.
BTSN is one of my favorite events at RJ Grey. There is excitement in the air as parents and guardians navigate our halls and bump into their own friends! You will follow your child's Day 1 schedule and you'll be able to spend 10 minutes in each of your child's classes. This adults-only event is a good opportunity to see your child's teachers, put a face to a name, and know more about what your child will learn this year. Our Back to School Night provides general information about your child's courses and does not include time for individual conversations about your own student. You can always feel free to email the teacher or set up a team meeting for a particular conversation if that feels necessary. You will receive a Parent Square message before next Tuesday with your child's schedule. We will also have hard copies of student schedules in the lobby that evening. I hope to see many of you on October 17!
Minuteman High School Visit
Representatives from Minuteman High School spoke to our 8th graders on Wednesday about their school. Minuteman is the technical school option for students who live in Acton and who would like to pursue a high school opportunity different from ABRHS. Please check in with your 8th grader about their interest in Minuteman - there is an application process, interview, and other steps to be completed before students are accepted at Minuteman. In early November, representatives from Acton-Boxborough Regional High School will speak to 8th graders about the high school experience at AB. Please be in touch with your child's counselor if you have particular questions that we can answer.
Happy Long Weekend!
I hope you have the opportunity to enjoy this long weekend. My family is going to spend a bit of time in Salem on Saturday. I expect we will be one of thousands with the same idea. My wife and kids are huge fans of the Hocus Pocus movies, so I envision several selfies at some of the local spots used in the films. However you choose to spend it, I hope you have a nice weekend.
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
Apologies to you all for my message being delayed by a day. To begin, Shana Tova to all who celebrated the New Year yesterday with Rosh Hashanah. I hope you enjoyed the holiday with your families. I started my day yesterday in the dentist's chair, getting a temporary crown placed on a molar. This was a first for me. It was largely uneventful but has made me extra aware of my kids' teeth-brushing habits. They won't understand that I'm trying to help their 43-year-old selves by saving them some anguish, and cost!
On Wednesday and today, I had the chance to speak with all of our students in team assemblies about how we interrupt hate and bias statements when we hear or see them. I explained the important reasons for creating a community that intervenes on these topics. We practiced some ways to respond when faced with an issue. I was pleased with the overall serious attitude that our students brought to these assemblies. I reminded them that we are still trying to build a joyful, inclusive community of engaged learners, and creating a space where hate and bias reside undermines our attempt to build that community. For anyone interested, here are the slides that I used. The format for students was slightly different. We used a PearDeck presentation which allowed students to interact with the slides and provide some answers to the whole group. Overall, I am pleased that we established the expectations for this type of behavior and we'll continue to build on this work throughout the year.
Health and Wellness update from our Nursing Department:
Back to school brings new friends and new learning opportunities but it can also bring with it common childhood illnesses.
Across the district, we have been seeing an increase in the common cold and upper respiratory illnesses, both of which are spread by droplets (coughing, sneezing, transfer by hands). Students may come to school with minor symptoms as long as they are feeling well enough to engage in their learning. Students should wash their hands frequently, and cover their coughs/sneezes to prevent the spread of infection.
As a reminder, students must stay home when experiencing:
● A fever of 100.0 degrees Fahrenheit or more.
● Vomiting or diarrhea.
● Eye(s) that are red, itchy and/or are draining yellowish fluid.
● Cough that is frequent and disruptive to the child’s learning.
● A medical provider suspects a communicable illness (strep throat, conjunctivitis or pink eye, COVID-19, influenza or the flu, etc) and you are awaiting the test results.
● New /undiagnosed rashes.
Students may return to school when:
● Fever has been within normal limits for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications such as acetaminophen, or ibuprofen (Tylenol/Motrin/Advil for example).
● Vomiting and diarrhea have been resolved for 24 hours and the student feels better and has resumed a normal diet.
● Students prescribed antibiotics for a bacterial infection may return to school after taking their prescribed medication for at least 24 hours, have been fever-free for 24 hours, and feel well enough to be in school.
● Cough has improved and is tolerated by the student.
Please refer to the Massachusetts Guidance regarding respiratory illnesses which can be found here. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact the RJ Grey Health Office.
Please check out the important dates below. I hope you have a great weekend!
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
Before I begin my typical blog-style writing, I wanted to let you know about a Health-related topic at RJ Grey.
It has come to our attention that one case of whooping cough (pertussis) was identified within our RJ Grey Junior High School community. If your child has been determined to be a close contact of this individual, you will be contacted by the Acton Board of Health for further guidance.
A clinical advisory has been issued by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health regarding pertussis which can be found here. Please contact your child’s primary care provider if you have any questions or concerns or if your child is showing symptoms of pertussis. Please click on this link to learn more about pertussis and its signs and symptoms to watch for.
As always, you are welcome to contact our RJ Grey nurses if you have questions or concerns. Please note that the school nurses need to be mindful of confidentiality and will be limited in what information can be shared.
For my more typical updates:
'Tis the season of Back to School Nights for public schools. I hope you will join us on Thursday, October 17 for RJ Grey's Back to School Night. Starting at 7 pm, we'll have you follow your child's schedule where you'll get to hear from your child's teachers in 10-minute increments. We'll send out more info and schedules as we get closer. I visited my oldest daughter's 5th grade classroom last night for her Back to School Night. It was helpful for me to hear from her teacher, see where she sits, see some of her work on the walls, and check out her desk - it was surprisingly well organized! I hope you'll be able to join us on the 17th!
I am grateful to the individuals who expressed interest in joining the RJ Grey School Council this year. Our returning 8th grade reps are Eden Dunckel and Julie Schwartz. They will be joined by our incoming 7th grade reps: Erica Brown Soto, Krishan Kumar, and Kate Elliot Mayers. The School Council will meet seven times this year and we'll talk about all things related to RJ Grey. The School Council gets to hear about what we're working on and I rely on what they hear in the parent/guardian community. The goal is to work together to make this school a great learning environment for your children. You are always welcome to join a meeting. Check out our School Council site for dates and a Zoom address.
You might have heard from your child about our evacuation drill yesterday afternoon. Every year, we combine one of our required fire drills with an off-site evacuation drill. If we need to leave our building and gather somewhere else during an emergency, our procedure is to walk to the Parker Damon building. Yesterday afternoon, we took over the gym and cafeteria of the McCarthy-Towne and Merriam schools - all planned for a time when those schools had already released for the day. All went as planned and we are pleased that our students have gone through the procedures in case we ever need to use them in a real emergency. We have now completed at least the first of each of our planned drills this year. We'll have at least two more fire drills and one more ALICE drill, but we now have at least a few weeks ahead of us without a planned safety drill. September is a hard month to gain much momentum in the classroom due to many planned interruptions. Here's hoping for a few weeks of calm, engaged learning at RJ Grey!
Finally, with a few weeks under our belts, I want to reshare the processes for late arrivals and early dismissals. We do ask that you let us know if you are dismissing your student ahead of time. This will prevent you from needing to wait if you arrive to dismiss your child. Please see our website with any questions!
Please check out the important dates below. I hope you have a great weekend!
Jim
Thursday, Oct 3: No School for Rosh Hashanah
Monday, Oct 7: Early Release at 1 pm
Tuesday, Oct 8: School Council Mtg #1, 7 pm
Wednesday, Oct 9: Minuteman High School Assemblies for 8th graders
Friday, Oct 11: Pajama Day at RJ Grey
Monday, Oct 14: No School for Indigenous Peoples' Day
Thursday, Oct 17: Back to School Night at RJ Grey, 7 - 9 pm
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
I hope you have been enjoying the beautiful weather that we've had recently. I'm only hoping that we don't have to pay for it this winter. On Monday, we opened up our cafeteria courtyard as an option for students to eat their lunches. Our Phys Ed classes have been able to be outside most days, and I haven't yet needed my umbrella during the morning drop-off routine. All is good with the world!
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On my best days as a principal, I get to wander in and out of classrooms to see what our kids are learning. During my travels this morning, I was able to see 8th graders working on creating shared gifs in their Dig Lit class. Students in 7th grade Health worked together on a word search to find the names of all of their classmates in an effort to build a classroom community. In 7th grade English, students analyzed the poem, Oranges, for use of color and other imagery. And in 7th grade Math, students were practicing and learning about positive and negative numbers. My 30-minute walkthrough showed me that our students are engaged in learning lots of important things throughout their day. I hope your students happily report that they've moved past learning classroom routines, and have now entered the part of the year where they are learning and thinking about new and exciting topics!
On Tuesday, we administered the iReady reading assessment to our students. Next Tuesday, we'll give the math assessment to all students. This particular tool is helpful as we get to know your students as learners. Our mantra as a school for the past three years has been, "Building a joyful, inclusive community of engaged learners." This year, we are focusing deeply on engaged learning and all that comes with it.
At the end of September, when we have iReady data, MCAS results from last spring, and a month or so of knowing your students, we will begin working with some students in small groups during Directed Study. Over the past six months, we've been working to bring to life a Math Workshop and ELA Workshop for our students. If your child is selected to be part of one of these workshop classes, you'll hear from me. As a general description, we are going to look at our data on student learning and determine which students would benefit from some additional time with a content teacher to fill in some gaps in learning. For example, we may realize that a small group of five students would benefit from a thorough review of adding fractions. Another group may need intense practice with working with decimals. We'll select those students and have them start attending a Math Workshop during our Directed Study period for a 6-week session. The goal is to build skills and make sure students are on the path to being proficient at their grade level over time. More to come on our Workshop classes!
If you haven't already done so, please sign up to receive our Daily Announcements email. Please click this link to join our group.
Take care,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
I hope you are doing well and adjusting to the routines that come with a new school year. We continue to enjoy working with your kids every day. They bring great energy and a general level of respect for their peers, teachers, and school. We are off to a good start!
I am sure most of you are aware of another tragic incident of school violence yesterday in Georgia. I read briefly about the incident on my phone while at school yesterday and felt an immediate sense of sorrow. Last night, while flipping through channels when my kids were in bed, I stopped briefly on a news network where the reporter was interviewing students at the school. I could only watch for about a minute before I turned the channel. My whole life is connected to schools. I have been in schools for 180 days or more every year for about the last 38 years. My wife works as a teacher and my three kids attend school every day, just like yours. Continuing to see occasions of terrible violence in schools is shocking and shakes me every time. I chose to watch a rerun of the 80's classic The Golden Girls for a few minutes to change my mood. It worked.
On Friday and again on Tuesday, I led grade-level student assemblies on all things "safety" at RJ Grey. I talked with students about fire drills, showed them maps of our school, and talked through the ALICE protocol for how we would respond if we were ever faced with a school intruder intending to do harm in our building. Students then had a chance to return to homeroom to talk in smaller groups about the specifics of locking down in a classroom, evacuation routes, and other important procedures. We will have several drills this year to help practice our safety routines. Our first fire drill will be tomorrow. We'll have 4 fire drills this year. We'll also have two ALICE drills this year - the first will take place next week.
In addition to locked doors, emergency plans, and technical responses, our overall approach to providing a safe school environment is that we are the safest when we know our students well and we have open lines of communication. When we spend time building relationships with kids through classes, Advisory, clubs, sports, and in other ways, we hope that students build trust to communicate with us when they know something is unsafe or dangerous. Having open communication between our students and their teachers and between our students and you is paramount. If you are ever privy to information that is important for us to know, especially if it relates to school safety, I implore you to be in touch with me or a member of our admin team.
Cartwheel Webinar
We continue to work with Cartwheel Care to provide mental health support to students. Cartwheel will offer sessions for caregivers throughout the year. The first is coming up on Tuesday, September 10:
Topic: The Relationship Between ADHD and Learning Disorders
Date: September 10, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM ET
Location: Zoom
Registration: LINK
Fifty percent of youth with ADHD also have a coexisting disorder or diagnosis, such as anxiety, depression, or learning disorders, such as dyslexia. What are the impacts on students who have both ADHD and learning disorders? What can we as parents, caregivers, and school staff do to support kids who may have coexisting symptoms?
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Parent Square
469 of you have signed up to receive our Daily Announcements email. If you haven't already done so, please sign up to receive our Daily Announcements email. Please click this link to join our group.
I am very aware that with the start of the school year, you are receiving lots of messages. I see them from my own kids' schools, too. If you haven't already done so, please take a look at your settings in Parent Square. You can refine how and when you receive messages from RJ Grey. You may want to turn off the text feature if you have the app notifications, as an example. Start here if you'd like to learn more about Parent Square and update your settings. If you have any questions, please let me know!
SBIRT - 7th grade families only
In March of 2016, the state legislature enacted H4056, commonly called the “STEP Act.” This legislation is in direct response to the opioid crisis and is an effort to provide tighter controls on addictive drugs and additional education about substance abuse. As part of the educational component, this legislation requires all public school districts to utilize a screening tool approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH), and to conduct the screening annually to all students in two different grade levels. At Acton-Boxborough, students in 7th and 9th grade will participate in the screening.
Our 7th grade Health program currently includes a brief unit that introduces topics related to substance use and abuse, and discusses issues related to the use and consumption of nicotine, alcohol and marijuana. Our plan is to include the screening tool during the final lesson of the unit, and involve our counselors and nurses in the delivery of the lesson and completion of the screening tool. Students will be asked to complete a written version of the screening tool which includes a series of questions about exposure and use of specific substances. For your review, I am including a copy of the screening questions with this letter. The screening form will be reviewed by the counselor and nurse, and students may be invited for a follow-up conversation if they indicate an interest in meeting or if their responses meet a set of criteria that the District has established. Please know that parents/guardians of any student who participates in a follow-up meeting for any reason will be contacted by the nurse or counselor. As for when this might take place for your child, students are scheduled to be enrolled in Health class (as part of the Physical Education program) at different points in the year. Some are currently in Health, others may not attend until later in the Spring.
Families will have the right to opt their child out of participating in the screening portion of the SBIRT lesson. If you wish to opt your child out of the screening portion, please email Assistant Principal Elizabeth Broadwater ([email protected]) and submit that request. Regardless of when your child is scheduled for Health class, opt-out requests need to be submitted by September 26, 2024.
Take care,
Jim
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jmarcotte
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